News & Blog - Back to Back Theatre

THE DEMOCRATIC SET at InBetween Time Festival / Arnolfini (UK) and Aarhus Festival (Denmark)

2010-07-26T10:40:48Z

Hot on the heels of a successful crash-course incarnation at the Unity Festival in Cardiff, Wales, THE DEMOCRATIC SET will soon be deployed again, this time to the InBetween Time International Festival of Live Art & Arnolfni (Bristol, UK) and Aarhus Festival (Denmark).

Disturbingly obvious and tantalisingly strange, THE DEMOCRATIC SET is a residency model for creating a rapid series of short live performances and screen-based video portraits in collaboration with local artists or communities.

THE DEMOCRATIC SET is a cavalcade of portrait, soap box and drama.

THE DEMOCRATIC SET begins with a purpose built film set, an empty box, an egalitarian environment for performance. Conceived as an offer and an invitation to artists, the box is capable of framing live and filmed performance.

THE DEMOCRATIC SET explores the social ideal that all people are, in principle, equal and should enjoy social, political and economic rights and opportunities.

AARHUS FESTIVAL Residency 26 August – 1 September 2010

For more information, visit the Aarhus Festival website

INBETWEEN TIME INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF LIVE ART
Part 1 – In Residence at Arnolfini 3 – 8 September 2010
Part 2 – Gala Showing at Arnolfini 1 December 2010

For more information, please keep your eye on the InBetween Time Festival & Arnolfini websites

FRANKENSTEIN by THEATRE OF SPEED 27 -29 May 2010

2010-04-28T13:16:54Z

Given life by a creator driven by ambition, FRANKENSTEIN’s rejected monster becomes an outcast. Seeking only acceptance and companionship the monster’s stirring resentment builds to murderous anger, violently concluding in a vendetta between creator and creation.

Performed by a cast of 18 actors in collaboration with director James Pratt, musical director Jo Lange, lighting designer Jenny Hector and costume designer Emily Barry. In a dynamic theatrical interpretation of Shelley’s classic novel, THEATRE OF SPEED question who is different, who is powerful, and who is more human - ‘Man’ or ‘Monster’?

Click here for more information or to book your tickets.

Back to Back Theatre in residence at Ever After Theatre

2010-03-16T14:56:50Z

We are very excited to announce that we will be in residence with Ever After Theatre Company at Sydney Theatre Company next month.

The mentorship involving eight performers from the Ever After Theatre Company, working under the guidance of Back to Back Theatre will take place from April 19 - 23 in partnership with the Australia Council for the Arts and Accessible Arts NSW at Sydney Theatre Company.

The Back to Back and Ever After mentorship will involve a week of intensive workshops at STC with actors from both theatre companies and directors from Back to Back. There will be an opportunity for interested people to participate in an open workshop run by Back to Back Theatre, as part of the week of workshops. The week will conclude with an informal public showing at STC on April 23 at 2pm.

For more information or to book your place at the workshop or the public showing, please contact Susan Johnston via email at everaftertheatre@gmail.com or via phone on 02 95558988.

small metal objects is coming home!

2010-02-26T16:18:36Z

After touring to 29 cities worldwide, we are thrilled to announce that we will present the 30th season of the multi-award winning small metal objects in our hometown of Geelong.

small metal objects will be presented by the Geelong Performing Arts Centre at Westlfield Geelong from 15-18 April 2010.

Click here for more information or to book your tickets.

Back to Back Theatre - Ensemble Auditions

2010-02-18T13:36:45Z

Back to Back Theatre employs an ensemble of seven professional actors who are perceived to have an intellectual disability.

If you are are over 16 and have an intellectual disability and you would like to attend an audition workshop with Back to Back, please contact Marcia Ferguson via email at marcia@backtobacktheatre.com or by phoning 03 5221 2029 for more information.

Auditions are being held on 25 February and 1 and 2 March 2010.

FOOD COURT with The Necks at the Barbican Centre, London, 23-25 June 2010

2009-11-26T15:06:56Z

FOOD COURT with The Necks will be presented at the Barbican Centre in London from 23-25 June 2010.

The Barbican is Europe's largest multi-arts and conference venue presenting a diverse range of art, music, theatre, dance, film and education events. We visited in 2007 with small metal objects and we are so happy to be returning with FOOD COURT.

Whilst in London, The Necks will be performing a special one-off concert on the 26th of June.

We will be sure to keep you up to date with all the details.

FOOD COURT with The Necks at Adelaide Festival 3-6 March 2010

2009-10-23T08:36:18Z

FOOD COURT will be presented in the Dunstan Playhouse at the Adelaide Festival Centre over 4 nights from 3-6 March 2010 as part of the Adelaide Festival.

A post-show forum with collaborating artists will follow the performance on Thursday 4th of March.

Compression is key to Food Court, which, like an elegant picture of barbed wire, depicts violence, beauty and tragedy in a single piercing image. Food Court pricks the conscience, senses, skin - RealTime

For more information or to make a booking, please visit the Adelaide Festival website.

You can view the full Adelaide Festival Program online.

Back to Back Theatre - Open Workshops

2009-10-19T09:37:10Z

Back to Back Theatre is inviting participants from Geelong and beyond to participate in open workshops in dance, acting and improvisation. Join community participants from Theatre of Speed and some of Australia's most admired and respected directors and choreographers on Wednesday 11, 18, and 25 of November and 2 December 2009.

Places are limited. Cost is free. Subsidies for transport are available.

Workshops are open to participants aged 16 and over, of any ability and experience.

For details or to register contact Stacey Baldwin or call 03 5221 2029.

BACK TO BACK THEATRE awarded the Kit Denton Fellowship

2009-09-03T10:49:02Z

At the 42nd annual AWGIE Awards on Friday 28th of August, Back to Back Theatre was awarded the Kit Denton Fellowship for it's new work in development, GANESH VERSUS THE THIRD REICH. The purpose of the $25,000 fellowship is to promote courage, to champion bold and challenging ideas and to reward talent and excellence in performance writing. The Company will continue to develop GANESH VERSUS THE THIRD REICH in 2009-10 with the production scheduled to premiere in 2011.

BACK TO BACK THEATRE short-listed for the Kit Denton Fellowship

2009-08-13T15:25:27Z

The Fellowship was created in 2007 to honour the work and memory of Kit Denton, a respected and admired member of the writing community.

The father of media personality Andrew Denton, Kit was a lifetime member of the Australian Writers' Guild, a scriptwriter, author, poet and lyricist.

Reflecting the courage of Kit's own work, the purpose of the Fellowship is to promote courage, to champion bold and challenging ideas, and to reward talent and excellence in performance writing. The $25,000 annual Kit Denton Fellowship provides the recipient(s) with material and practical support to assist in the development a new writing project.

GANESH VERSUS THE THIRD REICH is co-authored by members of the Back to Back Ensemble of actors, in collaboration with Artistic Director, Bruce Gladwin and is an exploration of cultural appropriation in all forms, be it the theft of symbols, icons, rituals, aesthetic standards, or behaviour from one culture or subculture by another. Taking in the territories of nationalism, globalisation, multiculturalism, religion, spirituality and pop-culture, its single linear narrative is presented as a hero’s journey.

The Fellowship will be presented at the 42nd Annual AWGIE Awards to be held 28th August 2009.

Back to Back would like to congratulate all of the other short-listed writers; Robert Reid for The New Black, Karl Madderom for Face Value and Bobbie Waterman, Lisa Hoppe and Margot O'Neill for Blind Conscience.

Follow this link to the AWGIE Awards page on the Australian Writers' Guild website for more information.

SMALL METAL OBJECTS USA Tour 09

2009-07-30T13:09:58Z

The multi-award-winning production will tour to the Portland Institute of Contemporary Arts for the TBA Festival; to Philadelphia for the Live Arts Festival and to the Kennedy Center in Washington DC as part of the Millennium Stage program.

Visit the SMALL METAL OBJECTS page for more details.

Visit the TBA 09 website

Visit the Live Arts Festival website

Visit the Millennium Stage website

FOOD COURT nominated for 3 Helpmann Awards!

2009-07-01T11:57:29Z

BEST NEW AUSTRALIAN WORK - Back to Back Theatre with The Necks

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE - The Necks - Chris Abrahams, Tony Buck and Lloyd Swanton

BEST SCENIC DESIGN - Mark Cuthbertson, Bruce Gladwin & Rhian Hinkley

Follow this link to the Helpmann Awards website to view the nominations

If you are member of Live Performance Australia (or an employee of), a past nominee or winner of a Helpmann Award and you have registered to vote, we encourage you to vote for FOOD COURT now! Thanks for your support.

FOOD COURT with The Necks at the Sydney Opera House June 09

2009-03-26T14:10:04Z

FOOD COURT will be presented at the Opera Theatre over 2 nights only from 9-10 June 2009.

For more information or to make a booking, please visit the Sydney Opera House website.

Brian Eno, who describes the Luminous artists as "defying obvious categorisation", will also appear in conversation with various performers and collaborate on a final concert called Pure Scenius.

The Necks will appear "in conversation" with Brian Eno on the 14th of June 2009.

You can view the full Luminous Program online

FOOD COURT with The Necks at the Kunstenfestivaldesarts 2 - 5 May 09

2009-03-16T11:55:13Z

The highly regarded festival takes place over three weeks in May, showcasing performing arts and visual arts by artists from all over the world.

For more information, visit the FOOD COURT listing in the Kunstenfestivaldesarts online program.

Visit the Kunstenfestivaldesarts website to view the full program online.

SMALL METAL OBJECTS European Tour 09

2009-03-16T12:20:34Z

SMALL METAL OBJECTS will tour to Linz (Austria) as part of European Culture Capital 09 program; Ljubljana (Slovenia) for the Exodos Festival; Hamburg (Germany) at Kampnagel and Bristol (UK), a co-production of Arnolfini and Bristol Old Vic.

Visit the SMALL METAL OBJECTS page for more details.

Visit the Linz 09 website
Visit the Exodos Festival website
Visit the Kampnagel Festival website
Visit the Arnolfini website

THE DEMOCRATIC SET at Castlemaine State Festival

2009-04-02T14:39:51Z

Disturbingly obvious and tantalisingly strange, THE DEMOCRATIC SET is a rapid series of short live performances and screen-based video portraits created with local residents. With no individual performance lasting longer than 1 minute, THE DEMOCRATIC SET is a cavalcade of portrait, soap box and drama.

Individuals from the local community are invited to have their video portrait taken on set, on Friday 3 April. Each video portrait will take approximately 10 minutes to film. The portraits will appear along with live performance created by participants from Creatability Events Network (Bendigo) and Windarring (Castlemaine) on Saturday 4 April at 2pm.

Phee Broadway Theatre Mechanics Lane, Castlemaine

Portraits - Friday 3rd April, 10-3pm Performance - Sat 4th April, 2pm

All tickets are $10 for the performance (portraits free)

Bookings Call the Castlemaine State Festival box office: 03 5434 6100 or visit the Castlemaine State Festival website

Back to Back Theatre at Nelson Park School April - November 09

2009-03-26T14:15:17Z

Back to Back will be in residence at Nelson Park School in North Geelong from April - November 09.

Back to Back will curate a series of weekly workshops facilitated by professional artists around the thematic of Art and Space and will endeavour to respond organically to the interests of the students at the school. The residency is based on developing the individual voices of students by engaging with experimental multi-artform contemporary theatre practice.

Nelson Park students will share the work they create with family members and the school community via informal showings of their work and ideas.

Please contact Marcia Ferguson for more information

Reviews of FOOD COURT 08

2008-10-16T09:43:12Z

The Australian - 17 October 2008
By Alison Croggon

"Food Court is a triumph. It's the most emotionally overwhelming theatre I've seen since Ariane Mnouchkine's Le Dernier Caravanserail: a work of devastating honesty and, ultimately, extraordinary beauty that confirms Back to Back as a key player in contemporary theatre..."
Read the complete review on The Australian website

Theatre Notes Blog - 16 October 2008
By Alison Croggon

"Every now and then a show comes along and reminds you that theatre is a burning glass, that it can be an art that focuses experience into an emotional thermic lance which sears through the intellect into the tissue of deep feeling, right where it hurts. Such theatre reminds you that, as Artaud said in his final madness, being alive is difficult; it reminds you that existence is cruel and painful, and - crucially - that the only way we can experience beauty is if we also open ourselves to pain and sorrow..."
Read the complete review on the Theatre Notes website

Australian Stage - 11 October 2008
By Avi Lipski

"Emerging from the darkness of backstage, led to the orchestra pit by a dim torchlight, The Necks begin to play. Their unique blend of avant-garde improvised jazz slowly envelops the space. The audience is transfixed by their hypnotic cacophony of sound...
Read the complete review on the Australian Stage website

FOOD COURT at the Geelong Performing Arts Centre 2009

2008-09-25T10:07:04Z

GPAC General Manager Jill Smith made the announcement on Monday 22 September 08, just days after Back to Back was awarded a New York Dance and Performance Award (Bessie) for its season of small metal objects in New York’s prestigious Under the Radar festival.

Bookings: 03 5225 1200 or visit the GPAC website

visit the Food Court page for more information about the show

small metal objects wins a 2008 New York Bessie Award

2008-09-04T12:12:43Z

small metal objects has been awarded a New York Dance and Performance Award - a Bessie - for its January 2008 season at New York's Staten Island Ferry Terminal, presented by the Under the Radar festival (curated by Mark Russell).

The New York Dance and Performance Awards, informally known as the Bessie Awards in honour of Bessie Schonberg, are awarded annually for innovative achievement in dance and related performances, particularly so-called "downtown" performances.

The Judges’ cited that the Award had been given to Back to Back for “a work that revealed the choreography of commuter ebbs and flows in the Staten Island Ferry Terminal; for presenting an ordinary story in an extraordinary way.”

The annual Award ceremony is presented by Danspace Project and Dance Theater Workshop.

The Award was accepted in Manhattan on behalf of Back to Back Theatre by Under the Radar's Associate Producer, Meiyin Wang.